Holiness

“But this is the true definition: Marriage is the divinely instituted and lawful union of a man and a woman in the hope of offspring, or at least for the sake of avoiding fornication and sin, to the glory of God. Its ultimate purpose is to obey God and to be a remedy for sin; to call upon God; to desire, love, and bring up children to the glory of God; to live with one’s wife in the fear of the Lord; and to bear one’s cross. But if no children result, you should nevertheless live content with your wife and avoid promiscuity” (LW 4:244).

“But we teach that the church has no spot or wrinkle (Eph. 5:27) but is holy, though only through faith in Jesus Christ; in addition, it is holy in its life, in the sense that it refrains from the desires of the flesh and practices its spiritual gifts. But it is not yet holy in the sense of being delivered and rescued from all evil desires or of having purged out all wicked opinions and errors. For the church always confesses its sin and prays that its trespasses may be forgiven (Matt. 6:12); it also ‘believes in the forgiveness of sins.’ And so the saints sin, fall, and even err; but they do so through ignorance. For they do not want to deny Christ, to lose the Gospel, to cancel their Baptism, etc. This is why they have the forgiveness of sins; and if through ignorance they err in doctrine, this is forgiven, because at the end they acknowledge their error and depend solely on the truth and grace of God in Christ” (LW 27:85).